THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST/

BY JAMES

HENRY BREASTED.

THERE
which
It
is

is

in

the British

Museum, ^

a sadly

damaged

stone,

in the opinion of the present writer contains the oldest

of a philosophical WeltatiscJiauufig.^

known formulation

a rectangular slab of black

is

granite,

0,92X1,375 m, and

considerably smaller, being o,688x i)32 m, thus occupying only the upper three quarters of the stone, as it lies upon the long edge. The inscription consists of two horizontal
lines at the top

the inscribed surface

and beneath these, sixty-one vertical

suffered a fourfold defacement: (i) the

name

of

lines. It has king Shabaka in

;

the

ss-Ji"

ring has been everywhere (three times) chiseled out

of Set, as a

(2) the

name

typhonic god, has everywhere

(at least

thirteen times) been chiseled out^; (3) a deep rectangular hole

1

for the history of

the title
2

Professor Breasted has discussed the significance of the inscription on the Memphite slab philosophy in an article that appeared in The Monist, Vol. XII., No. 3, under "The First Philosopher."

No

135*.

was early published by Sharpe (Insc. I, 36-38) but so badly as to be unusable. The first two lines were copied from Sharpe by Rouge and employed for historical purposes (Mel. d'Arch, Eg. I, pp. 12 and 20 ff.); Goodwin made a Latin translation from Sharpe's faulty text (Mel. Eg. 3rd. ser. I, 247) but since then, with the exception of a few phrases from Sharpe translated by Renouf (Hilbert, Lectures 1879, pp. 150 and 220), it has been entirely neglected, until it was again published a few weeks ago by Messrs. Bryant and Read (PSBA. March, 1901). I had already made a copy of the monument for the Berlin dictionary, before I saw their copy; a comparison of their plate with mine will explain the necessity of another publication for example, their plate numbers the lines backward, many of Sharpe's errors remain uncorrected, the lacunae have by no means been exhausted and' there is no distinction made between the gaps made intentionally by the scribe, and those due to wear or mutilation. The authors deserve much credit for devoting themselves to such a task, amid the duties of business life, and
3 It
;

that they

have not

fully

appreciated

its

extreme

difficulty, is quite

pardonable.

Their essay on

the

monument does them

full a text as

great credit. It therefore seemed imperative to immediately put as possible before students of Egyptian thought and religion. This unexpectedly early

publication of

my

plate therefore

makes

it

impossible

to

present with

it

the full study of the

document, and especially of cognate material, both Egyptian and Greek, which I had contemplated. What I have to offer therefore is only an account of the stone itself, and a rapid sketch of the more important ideas of the remarkable inscription which it bears.
1

Incidentally, this

shows that the

hostility

toward Set must have begun after the eighth cen-

tury B.C.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

459

about 0,12X0,14 m. has been chiseled in the centre of the stone, with rough channels some 0,25 m. to 0,38 m. in length, radiating from it; (4) the surface thus mutilated has been used as a nether
millstone, the upper stone revolving about the central hole

and
the

crossing transversely the radiating channels, thus wearing

off

surface of the stone and totally obliterating the inscription in a circle

across, around the central hole, with the exception few signs near the edge of the hole. In the plate, the first three mutilations, all due to the chisel, are represented by lined shading the incidental wear, due to time and the upper millstone, The scale of the plate is i 4 is represented by dotted shading. and palaeographically the commoner signs are only roughly correct; for the inscription is excessively time-worn and so faint that either a squeeze or a photograph was out of the question, and I
of a
;
:

some 0,78 m.

had not the appliances for a rubbing. The plate was therefore drawn from a hand copy, and then corrected before the original. All the rarer and more important signs however were drawn from
the original.

The

inscription

is,

palaeographically an exceedingly

beautiful one, and worthy of the best age.

eral very

The

signs are in gen-

reproduced in modern hieroglyphic type. All lacunae without exception were carefully measured and it is to be noted that all gaps in the plate not shaded by lines or dots, are original and intentional on the part of the scribe. The signs are very faint, and in badly worn places, reading is excessively diffiI spent cult, being a matter of repeated and long examination. several days on the lacunae, but I have no doubt that with a better
like those
light than
in places
it is

much

possible to get in the

museum

gallery,

more could

be gotten out of them. The line at the top contains the full titulary of king S^-b^ k^, reading both ways from the middle; and the second line is the
record of the king's renewal of the

monument

as follows

"His

majesty wrote this document anew, in the house of his father Ptah, etc., his majesty having discovered it, a work of the ancestors, being eaten of worms; it was not legible from beginning to end. Then [he] wrote [this document^] anew, more beautiful than the one that was before (it), in order that his name might abide, and

his
all

monument be
eternity,

fixed in the

house

of his father, Ptah, etc., for

being a work of the Son of Re' [Shabaka], for his father Ptah, etc., in order that he might be given life eternally." This record shows then, that our inscription is a copy by Sha-

baka
i

of

an older document on more perishable material

is

for the

There

exactly

room

for this restoration, as at the

beginning of the

line.

460
king
is

THE OPEN COURT.

particular not to call the older
it

document

a stela {wd), but

TiR

refers to

simply as "this document or writing

"," a

term conveniently applicable alike to the new stela and the older wooden tablet, or whatever may have been the worm-eaten material of the older

document.

The

"illegible from beginning to end,"

fact that the latter had become might cast suspicion upon the

correctness and authenticity of the copy, but there are degrees of

illegibility

older
read.

and the success of the renewal would indicate that the document was not totally illegible, but only very difficult to There are evidences of such early loss however, like the
at the

omission of '^^^5-rJ

head

of

1.

lo.b,
11.

and the gap

3-7,

in

1.

61.

and the continuity of the sense in 11. i2,a-i^a, show clearly that some gaps were intentional in the earlier original. In any case this superscription of itself proves that the remarkable ideas in our inscription are as old as the eighth century B. C, with strong presumption that they are older. The internal evidence that they are much older will be found below. Of the sixty-one vertical lines under the above heading, only one third have survived entire, though scanty fragments of a few more are still legible. Under these circumstances one cannot determine at a glance, in which direction the lines should be read, for, as is well known, the general law that the animal-hieroglyphs shall all face toward the beginning of the inscription is sometimes violated in vertical line inscriptions. Only a careful examination of the ends and beginnings of contiguous lines can settle this question. We notice in 1. 7 that its closing words are "He judged Horus and Set;" now I. 8 begins: "He settled (?) their litigation," continuing with the appointment of Set as King of Upper and Horus as King of Lower Egypt. Looking in 1. 8 at the mention of Set before Horus, preceding the mention of the two together in 1. 9, we see clearly that 11. loa and io<^ headed by Set should precede 1. iia and \ib headed by Horus, and that both should precede 1. 12a headed by both together. But it is to be noted that the horizontal lines divide the text into sections coherent in themselves; thus 11. loa to iia must be read together; 11. io^-i2(^ likewise and similarly 11. i-^a-i%a; 11. i^b-i'&b, and 11.
of the
in
:

But the regularity

arrangement

iT^c-i^c.

The succession

of

11.

13^-15^

is

very clear, as Messrs.

Read and Bryant have

noticed.^

1 After I. iHa. b, etc. the succession is not easily demonstrated owing to the wear of the millstone in the middle, and the fact that the fragments at top and bottom do not always belong

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

461

Ll. ../-and .2 are joined thus:

|||V'ikmJII

and the same phrase in the middle of 1. 64 shows that the junction Again at the other end of the inscription, the following is correct. phrases occupying the end of one line and the beginning of another, must clearly be connected
:

ku^^--'^

As regards

a,

the conclusion

is

much

reinforced by the phrase

in the middle oi
11.

the beginning 1. 58 and equally clear, but the peculiar arrangement of the last words of 1. 58 compel reference to the plate. The end of 1. 60 conof
1.

[_J%, "^0-=^, "thought of the heart," The connection between the end of 56.
59
is

58 and

nects clearly with

1.

61,

where ^
V:yJ<^=^

H-v.^
(j

^^

is

plainly a relative

clause belonging to

(end of 61), though the mean-

ing

At the beginning of 1. 62 I am not sure of the is uncertain. meaning, but connection with the end of 1. 61 is clearly possible. Finally 1. 62 narrates the drowning of Osiris, while in 1. 63 Isis and Nephthys pull him ashore (^spr. sn sw r t, "they bring him to the land"), a clear sequence of events; while 1. 64 proceeds with the events following his death, which have been begun in 1. 63. The direction in which the lines should be numbered is therefore certain, and we have again before us a text with the signs facing backward instead of as usual toward the beginning of the inscription, as in the southern pylon inscription of Hatshepsut,
together, owing to the intervening horizontal line,
in

now

largely lost.

L. iSr
62,

probably joins

1.

19

any case
at

1.

19

was not cut by the horizontal

;

line as is

shown by

1.

which corresponds with

it

top and bottom

but

11.

20

and

21

were cut by

it,

as

all

the lines intr

'>ll
20rt,

and furthermore the end of 1. 201^ is in continuation of 1. 19 and not of comparison with 11. 62-63. Lh 22-23 were probably not so cut, for 1. 2\b joins
cut,
Ll. 25-28

as

22 as

is shown by shown above.

were cut by the horizontal

is

line, as

shown by the remains

is

of

The proper

succes-

sion of lines 8-24

also clear from their content, as

is

shown further

on.

IThe succession

these two lines in their translation, in order to tion that the scribe has inverted them.

here so patent that Messrs. Read and Bryant have inverted the order of accommodate them to their order, on the supposi-

462

THE OPEN COURT.

the coronation inscription of

the Der-el-Bahri texts of Hatshepsut.

ity is so

Thutmose III. (both at Thebes) or The fact that this peculiarwith the or-

common

in the eighteenth dynasty, together

thography and grammar of the inscription, which certainly cannot be later than the eighteenth dynasty, would indicate that our stela is an unaltered copy of a document at least as old as that period, while some points in orthography would indicate a much earlier date. Furthermore, it will be shown below that one of the chief
ideas set forth in the

document was current

is

in the

eighteenth dyin or before

nasty; there are strong indications therefore, both in form, lan-

guage, and content, that the inscription

the beginning of the

to

be dated

New Kingdom
let

(about 1600 B. C).

Regard-

ing the content of the document,

is

me

repeat that what follows

a merely preliminary sketch to

I

early publication of the text.

hope that

accompany the unexpectedly a more elaborate study

may follow, but at present I can only call attention to the most important of the remarkable ideas preserved to us in this ancient document, not attempting to treat more than incidentally its mythological content, nor to observe closely the order followed by the text. A consecutive translation will be found at the end. The stone once contained a complete exposition of the functions and qualities of Ptah, and it begins (1. 3) thus "This Ptah is he who is proclaimed under this great name."
:

The word

for

"proclaim" or "publish"
where

is

1^

^^ ^

the only

I know, in the coronation used of the proclamation of her name as king. This is of course the meaning here also. Atum is his father (1. 6), "to whom the gods offered when he had judged Horus and Set." After settling "their litigation, he set up Set as king of Upper Egypt in the Southland, from the place where he was born"; (cf. 1. \Qa) and Keb "set up Horus as king

other occurrences of which are, so far as

inscriptions of Hatshepsut,
it is

Lower Egypt in the Northland, from the place where his father was drowned." The dialogue accompanying these full lines now follows in the upper portions of the cut lines (ioa-i7<?): "Keb (to) Set, speech: 'Hasten from the place wherein thou wast born.' "Keb (to) Horus, speech: 'Hasten from the place wherein thy father was drowned.' "Keb (to) Horus and Set, speech I will judge you.' "Keb (to) the ennead, speech: 'I have assigned the inheritof
:

'

ance to that heir, to the son of the first-born son.' "

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

It
is

463

clear that "that heir"

is

Horus,

for the

accompanying
to the por-

half lines (io^-i2<^), after affirming that "it is evil for the heart of

Keb

that the portion of

Horus should (only) be equal

tion of Set," then state in accordance with the dialogue:

"Keb

gives his inheritance to Horus, he being the son of the first-born

son."

The pre-eminence
13/; to i8/^,

of

Horus

is

again indicated by the ob-

scure lines
stated
(11.

each beginning with

^.

and

it is

clearly
is

i3(r,

i^c, i5<^):

"Horus

stands on the earth, he

the

uniter of this land, proclaimed under the great

Vnb.f, lord of eternity.

name

T^-tiui rsi-

he

is

The double crown flourishes on his head; Horus, appearing as king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Uniter

Two Lands at the stronghold, at the place ^ where the Two Lands are united." A new subject is now introduced with the same mechanical arrangement as before, viz., first the narrative in
of the
full lines

(iSr-ig) and then the dialogue in half lines (20-21), the

narrative (i8r-ig) related the drowning of Osiris, with the sub-

narrative

and Nephthys.^ This end of our inscription (11. 62-64). From 25-35 the text again took up the conflict of Horus and Set, and then practically everything is lost, to the end of 47. The mythological references in the foregoing of
sequent dialogue and
is

offices of

Horus,

Isis,

resumed and

partially repeated at the

course suggest
that

many

parallels in other texts, but these

it is

we here

in-

tentionally pass by, for

in

the last 15 lines of the inscription

we find enumerated the essential functions of Ptah which make the document, to my mind, the most remarkable monument of Egyptian thought which we possess. In 1. 48 we have a title,
probably to be read
is
:

X,

^^. ^R
the

\ 111'^^^
title of a list of

meaning

of

which

of course doubtful.'^

It is

eight capacities or

functions of Ptah, arranged in two fours.

nearly complete; of the lower four only traces remain.

tions of Ptah.

The upper four are The Ptah52a) reads: "Ptah,

|)| |

figures in the shrines are determinatives of the preceding designa-

The

last of

the upper four

(1.

the great,

is

the heart and the tongue of the gods "(

is,

This

enigmatic utterance
iThis
2
is

as

we
to

shall see, the text or

theme

of the

undoubtedly a reference

|^g|. which

first

occurs in the Middle Kingdom.

1.

The narrative continued through

:

1.

22 at least, as a

comparison with

6+ shows.

may mean "Ptah is the being of the gods," for as he is later shown to be their intelligence and their medium of expression, he might easily be called their very being: but this is of
3 It

course very doubtful. Another possible rendering that the other gods are only different forms of his.

is

"Ptah

is

the forms of the gods," meaning

464

THE OPEN COURT.

development in the following lines, and we shall best understand what is meant by it if we first turn to the clear passages of these
frequently obscure lines.
state
:

LI. 57

(end)-58 are very explicit

they

W^u^i

"He^
member
is

is

the

maker

of every

work,

of

every handicraft, the do-

ing of the hands, the going of the feet; the

movement

of every

according to his command, ^ (viz-) the expression (lit. 'word') of the heart's thought, that cometh forth from the tongue and doeth the totality of everything." Here it is clearly stated
that everything first exists in the

mind

as thought, of

which the

thought becomes real and objective by finding expression, and of this the tongue is the channel. " Heart" is thus by metonomy the concrete term for "mind," while in the same way "tongue" is the concrete term for "word" or "command," the expression of the thought. Thus, mmd and the expression oi its content are denoted by "heart" and "tongue." The ancient thinker leaves us in no doubt about this, for he again ex-

"heart

" is the seat;

this

plicitly states

(11.

56-57):

\-\r\
"It
is

the tongue which repeats the thought of the heart;

is

it

(the heart)

the former of
'

all

gods,

Atum and
is

his

ennead;

at the

1 This pronoun may refer to no difference in the conclusion.

heart," but as " heart "

identified with Ptah, this will

make

20r, " according as he

commands

the word of the heart's thought, that cometh forth," etc.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE

PRIEST.

465

time when every divine word ^ even came into existence as athought of the heart which the tongue commanded."
It is

always the heart

"belly,"
cf.

|0r

cf.

Hebrew

^2) or

the

"body"

(
J

lit.

Hebrew
cf.

c^::n"!),

which the Egyptian conceives

the words of Hat-

as the seat of

mind;

among many examples

Karnak (LD. HI.

shepsut on her obelisk

at

24^/):

"My

heart led

over a vessel

among

in the offering

him two obelisks." Similarly Amon made by Thutmose HI. scene depicted on the wall of the annals at Karnak
to

me

make

for

the offerings to

(Brugsch, Thes. iiSy):^

design of his
a convincing

"(Of) costly stone, which his majesty made according to the own heart." These examples will suffice for "heart";

example

for

^^

"body,"

is

offered below in another

connection.

Ptah

is,

therefore, according to the affirmation

of the gods.

of

1.

52, the

This statement, made in an age so remote, if understood metaphysically, is a remarkable, philosophical interpretation of Ptah's functions and place among the gods. Yet I am not inclined to credit the Egyptian of that age with any Mind is nowhere in this clear metaphysical conception of mind. text clearly distinguished from matter. Ptah is the seat and source of the initiative ideas, notions, and plans, which all mind, wherever

mind and speech

found, entertains (see below).

He

is,

to

be sure, called the

^
is

"heart" or "mind

" of the

gods without qualification; and '^^

clearly explained as the seat

and source

of
\

N^^^\^" thought."
we

Nevertheless

when we examine
for hieroglyph
is
I

the development of the idea,

As the Egyptian

I
/I

" divine "divine word,"

"

it is

probable that

it is

used of words,

whether written or
2

not, in the

above passage or the

body."
of the tongue,"
,4s. ^

Or, " by the thought of the heart and

command

See

my

Varia,

PSBA.

April igoi.

This example offers the usual spelling of

|
|

whereas

our text regularly employs the character

466
find that
it is

THE OPEN COURT.

not immaterial mind pure and simple, but rather the
is

material source of ideas with which Ptah

clearly stated in the following
(1.

identified.

This

is

54V

m^

"(He is) the one who makes to (?)^ that which comes forth from every body (thought)^ and from every mouth (speech) of all gods, of all people, of all cattle, and of all reptiles, which live,^ thinking and commanding everything that he wills." Thought is frequently conceived as that which goes on in the "body," as could be shown by many examples. The most convincing ones known
to

me

are on the stela of Intef in the

Louvre

(C. 26,

1.

15

it is

the

eighteenth dynasty):

\\\m.
A\
"One who knows what
out over the lips."
is in

c\\

the body before anything passes

Furthermore, this example puts "body" and "lips" in a parallelism precisely like "body" and "mouth" in our The lost causative verb at the beginning is difficult inscription. to supply, but the concluding phrase proves all we have averred
:

the initiative thought, and the executive

creature, even animals
(!),

command
58):

are in every

the product of the god's will.

(1.

This

is

again clear in a phrase already quoted

"The movement
It is

of

every

member

is

according to his command."

important for
re-

the date of our

document

to notice that this is an idea already cur-

The court herald Intef, after rent in the eighteenth dynasty. counting his excellent services to the king, says:''
1

The lower end

IVn
711

of the

'T

is

perhaps visible after

Causative verb

lost.

'J

hnt

is

an idiom for "come forth from."

26,
11.

4The

participle agrees with the last noun.

Louvre Stela C.

22-24.

This
;

stela, as

belongs to the eighteenth dynasty discovered his tomb at Thebes.

Intef

was an

officer of

was long since evident from the inscription, Thutmose III., for Mr. Newberry has

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

467

llllllkSM^r
X '^'^n^^

III

ifiiiiiii?-^tii

^H w
"It was
services) by

my

its

heart which caused that I should do them (his an excellent guidance of my affairs (?), it being.
. .

witness.

did not transgress its^ speech,

feared to overstep
;

its

guidance; I prospered therefore exceedingly I was distinguished by reason of that which it caused that I should do I was excellent ,' said the people, 'it is an Lo through its guidance. oracle^ of the god, which is in every body; prosperous is he whom it hath guided to the propitious way of achievement.' Behold, thus
;
'

was."^
IThe pronoun
2

" it" {Egyptian

'he

") refers

throughout
III., p.

to

"heart."

See

my New

Chapter in the Life of Thutmose

to

22 (43).
:

SThere seems

be a similar idea in the strange words of the long text in Pahri's tomb

-75-

"

(Egypt. Exploration
refer.

Mayest thou spend eternity in gladness of heart, in the i^vor oi the god 'who is in thee." Fund nth Mem., pi. IX, 11. 20-21). But it is a dead man to %vhom the words

468

THE OPEN COURT.

The
in the

universal prompting of the god

is

thus clearly recognised

the seat of suggestion

eighteenth dynasty.

man's heart

is

and guidance, and this content of his mind is "an oracle of the god which is in every body." ^ It is therefore particularly the content But our priestly thinker of the mind which is due to the god. goes even a step further than this, for he says (1. 54):

lfV^k-[-r
came into existence from heart" probably does not mean here the capability of thinking; but, as the addition of tongue shows, it simply means that Ptah is the source of the power by which heart and tongue carry out the plans and ideas which he furnishes. Of course, if Ptah is the suggester of every idea or plan, and at the same time furnishes the power to execute them, he is the author of all things, and this conclusion our document logically reaches (1. 58):
heart and tongue
of the

him."

"The power of The "power

"Everything has come forth from him."^

claim
is

This universal

now explained
11.

in detail, particularly

with reference to the

other gods (see plate

58-60): "Everything has

(1.

come

forth

from

him, whether offering, or food, or

good thing
(1.

59) divine oblation, or any since he formed the gods, he made the

towns, he equipped the nomes, he placed the gods in their adyta

60),

he made their offerings

flourish,

he equipped their adyta,

he

made

likenesses of their bodies to the satisfaction of their

wood, of and every thing." Similarly "He is the former of all gods, of Atum (1. 56) as above quoted: (and) his ennead." Now as Atum is the traditional father and creator of gods, this view of Ptah as their creator must be reconciled to the old mythical tradition. Hence, we find preceding the above statements of Ptah's creating and equipping the gods a marvellous explanation of it, which leads up to it. This explanation
hearts, then the gods entered into their bodies, of every

every costly stone, of every metal

(?),

" Heart " and body are here used interchangeably as indicated above
or
1

this is

probably be-

cause

r
'

is

conceived as being
is

in

C^
;

almost certain for the sentence is really a relative clause " by whose hand the power of heart and tongue came into existence," as is shown in the quotation below.

2The

restoration ot iCe=.

Or, " from

it

" (the heart).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE

begins by acknowledging
55)

PRIEST.

469
(1.

Atum

as creator of the gods, saying

"Hisennead

is

before him, being the teeth and the

lips,

the

phallus and hands of

Atum.

[For] the ennead of

Atum came

ennead being mouth, which proclaims the name of everything, from which Sw and Tfmvt came forth. This ennead so created seems now to have taken the next step (1. 56): 'The gods formed the sight of the eyes, the hearing of the ears, the smelling of the nose, that they might furnish (lit., send up) the desire of the heart.' That is, these senses render to the heart that which it desires. For the heart is the guiding and commanding intelligence to which the senses are merely servants (11. 55-56): 'It (the heart)^ is the one that causes every successful issue to come forth; it is the tongue which repeats the thought of the heart; it (the heart) was the former of all gods, of Atum and his ennead, when every divine word even came into existence through the thought of the heart which the tongue commanded.' Now as Ptah has already been identified (1. 52a) as the 'heart' of the gods, he is therefore their creator; thus paradoxical as it seems, Ptah is the one who formed the very god that begat him^ (Ptah). After this reconciliation our philosopher can proceed with unlimited claims for the 'heart' or 'Ptah,' and it is evident that the masc. pronoun from this point on refers to 'heart,' because 'heart' is 'Ptah,' the origin of everything. For even the works of men are primarily his; thus he is (1. 57): 'The maker of every food offering and every oblation, by this word; the maker of that which is loved and that which is hated; he is the giver of life to him who bears peace, the giver of death to him who bears guilt.' " Not satisfied with this development of the functions of Ptah, our Egyptian thinker must now elaborate the theological position of the god more fully still. We have already seen (1. 13) that Ptah is identified with Horus he is now identified with Thoth (1. 59): " He is Thoth, the wise, greater is his strength than (that of) the gods; he united with Ptah, after he had made all things, every divine word; when he had formed the gods, had made the towns"
indeed the teeth and the lips
in his
;

into existence from his phallus,

and

his fingers ;i the

This

is

undoubtedly a reference

to the

onanism

of

Atum.
quoted above shows clearly that the

2The example from the "heart" may be thus referred

Intef-stela (Louvre C. 26)

to

by a masc. pronoun.

SThis identification of Ptah, with the " mind " of the god who begat him, cannot but remind one of the New Testament Adyo? e. g.: 'Ev apx?5 ^'' Adyos Kai 6 Ad-yos wpos toi' edr, k<Ci. ed? jjr 6
;

Adyos'

OiiTO?
1-3.

^i'

kv apxi] 77pb? Toi' tdi"

Ilai-ra

S'l

avTOv tyerero, \a\ \<upi5 avTov eyefero

oi'fie

t"i'.

John

i.

470
(etc., as
(1.

THE OPEN COURT.

above).
:

But

it

has already been stated

in the inscription

" Horus came into existence through him, Thoth came 54) that into existence through him, through Ptah, from whom the power
of the heart

and the tongue came

into existence."
is
|.

This

is

close to

affirmation that

Horus

is

iQ)

and Thoth

A
|

glance at the

preceding

line (53) in the plate,

where

^^

and
[j

stand in paral-

lelism with

^^ and

^ render
^=^

this conclusion certain.

:

We

might

arrange a mechanical equation thus

|''Ptah"=^
I

-^
ji~|

heart"

/>r^

"Horus"
-Thoth."

-tongue"

=-^

Apparently both Horus and Thoth are conceived as emanations of Atum, for the obscure half line (53) probably states:^ "He that became heart and he that became tongue are an emanation of Atum .their Xd's being this heart and this tongue," meaning the heart and tongue which he has just identified with Ptah in the preceding line (52). The identification of Thoth with tongue coincides with what we know of him elsewhere as the god of speech and writing; but Horus as heart or mind is, as far as I know, entirely new. The text now (11. 61-64) reverts to the Osiris myth, his drowning, the rescue of his body by Isis and Nephthys, its preparation for burial, his ascent to the gods, and his reception among them. Ptah is here brought in and left as Horus "in the presence of his father Osiris and the gods who are before him and behind him," with which words the inscription is concluded. In estimating the above exposition of the main ideas of this stela, it must be remembered that these ideas are in a language little suited to the conveyance of philosophical notions; I have
.
.

therefore tried to employ only the most unequivocal passages, leavall the many passages of which several different, but all grammatically admissible versions might be made. It must be remembered also that the thinker using this language was as little skilled in such thought as his language was ill-suited to its expres-

ing aside

iThe only uncertainty

"tongue"), which
is

is

like the

in the rendering of the preposition cognate preposition 5 in Hebrew or "-^ Is the

m
in

(before

"heart" and

Arabic, being used to

introduce either a predicate or an instrument.

essentiae
?

m
:

in this

passage a 3 instrumenti or a 2
;

render
heart,

it

as the tatter, introducing the predicate but it is quite possible to " He that came into existence by the as the former, introducing the instrument, thus
I

have rendered

it

and he that came

into existence

by the tongue,"

etc.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

sion.

471

And

finally

it is

to

be noted that modern study of the lan-

guage has given us but slight acquaintance with Egyptian of this kind. I have tried to express in English the thoughts of the Egyptian in all their crudity, as he thought and expressed them. That they thus exhibit numerous paradoxes is only in harmony with what we know is everywhere common in Egyptian religious thought, thus illustrating again what is almost an axiom in modern anthropology, that the mind of early man unconsciously and therefore without the slightest difficulty entertains numerous glaring paradoxes. But in spite of all this, we have here, at an astonishingly early date, a philosophical conception of the world which is to some extent valid even at the present day. It may be summed up thus: assuming matter, all things first exist ideally in mind; speech or its medium, the tongue, constitutes the channel, as it were, by which these ideas pass into the world of objective reality. In that world, the thought impulses of all living creatures are due to the same mind that created such creatures; hence all products of the thought of such creatures are primarily due to the all-pervasive mind, and only secondarily to the living creatures conTheir works therefore form no exception to the postulate cerned. above assumed that all things first exist ideally in the mind of the To interweave these philosophical conceptions with the exgod. istent Egyptian mythology and pantheon was not an easy task and has resulted in much inconsequence and contradiction. Of course the original Ptah had no more connection with such philosophical notions than had the early Greek gods with the later philosophical interpretation of their functions and relations by the post-Christian Greek thinkers, whose manner of thinking on this subject indeed forms an exact parallel to the interpretation of Ptah in our inscription. And just as, to the Greek mind, the philosophical interpretation of a god was suggested by his place or function in mythic Ptah, as shown by a thousand referstory, so in our inscription. ences, was the god of the architect and craftsman. That this was his place in the earliest times is shown (among other proofs) most
strikingly

by the hoary

title of

his high-priest

"^^

J "great

in the

execution of handiwork."

Ptah, therefore, from the earliest times

was known as the patron of the craftsmen, to whom he furnished It was but a step further to make him the plans and designs.
craftsman's works he became the architect of the world.
it

author of all thoughts and plans, and from the architect of the Indeed,

seems

to

me

clear that the

mind

of

our Egyptian priest,

little

47^

THE OPEN COURT.

it

used as
the

was

to abstractions,

gained his above philosophical con-

ception of the world by thinking about Ptah.

The workshop
and

of

Memphite temple, which produced

statues, utensils,

offer-

ings for the temple service, expands into a world, and Ptah, its lord, grows into the master-workman of the universal workshop.

This is clear from the fact that our inscription actually regards the world more as a vast temple workshop and domain, producing offerings and utensils for the gods, under the guidance of Ptah. Like some thinkers of the present day, our Egyptian priest cannot It was a point of get away from his ecclesiastical point of view. view the evidences for which are particularly plentiful in the eighteenth dynasty. To quote only two: Amenhotep IV. (Amarna Boundary Stela
11.

2-3)^ calls himself:

<=>UJ1V
"The
him on
his

I^L_J]4ir iJJcrzn^^
to him (the god) that placed Thutmose III. says (Brugsch,

one who brings the earth

throne."
Similarly

Thes. 1283-1284):

"I bring this land to the place where he (the god) is." For king and priest alike the world is only a great domain of the god, but for the priest of Ptah it is not only his domain but also his
workshop.
I

And moving

along this tangible

line,

our priest arrives

finally at a great philosophical

Weltanschauung.

cannot forbear a short excursus here on what seems to

me
in

the real explanation of the most important religious

early Egypt, viz., that of

movement

Continuing the above evidences of the Egyptian's attitude of mind toward the world, we see that even the temples symbolised this notion that the land
IV.

Amenhotep

was the god's domain, for the decorations represent the floor as the land and the roof as the sky, thus putting his domain into his house. Similarly all the king's victories and the list of his conquered towns are engraved on the temple walls; they are all the
This view of things brings theological thinking into close and sensitive relationship with political conditions for the domain of the god so conceived is limited by the military and political power of the king. The god goes where Pharaoh's sword carries him. The advance of Pharaoh's boundary stelae in Ethiopia and
god's. 2
1

See also

my

de Hymnis, p.

32.

See also speech of Ramses

II.

in the

Kadesh-poem.

2 It is

hardly necessary to point out that the same view prevailed in Assyria.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

Syria
is

473
his first

the advance of the god's.

Thutmose

III. after

campaign in Asia instantly gives three towns in the Lebanon to Amon, and enlarges the Theban temple of Amon. Now the theology of the time could not contemplate for 150 years the vast extension of the god's domain northward and southward without feelTheological theory must inevitably extend the ing its influence. active government of the god to the limits of the domain whence
he receives tribute.
It

can be no accident that we

first

find in

Egypt the notion of a practically universal god, at the moment when he is receiving practically universal tribute from the world of that day. Furthermore, the analogy of the Pharaoh's power unthis time, as

questionably operated powerfully with the Egyptian theologian at it had done in the past, furnishing him in tangible

form the world-concept, the indispensable prerequisite to the notion of the world-god. Our Egyptian must see his world before he can see his world-god that world conquered and organised and governed by the Pharaoh had now been before him for 150 years. Again, it is no accident therefore that the Egyptian's notion of a practically universal god arose at just this time, any more than is
;

among the Hebrews accidental at a time when nations were being swallowed up in world-empires. Under Amenhotep VI. this newly extended government of the god is thus
the rise of monotheism

expressed

C^SIIi

- orr^i'^

^1
oil

^iii=f=0'

1 From my own copy of the great hymn, made the season after I published a commentary it [De Hymnis in. Solein sub Rege Amenophide IV. conceptis, Berlin, 1894, see p. 47) from Bouriant's copy (Miss., I., pp. 2-5). I found out that the natives had hacked out about a third of it in just those places where Bouriant's copy is most faulty. We shall therefore always be obliged to depend upon Bouriant's inaccurate copy for a large part of this important monument, another illustration of the vital necessity of correct copying. The underlined passages are those now destroyed, for which we have only Bouriant. The character of this copy may be inferred

upon

from the following:

iii r

'^^T:Mm\
which corresponds
to the

second and third phrases above

474

THE OPEN COURT

^w

^^^k^^^

w
111^

f^-^^^
I

^^37

i'

"How
other.

numerous

are they

hidden before the

face,

thou sole god, beside

which thou hast made, which are whom there is no

all

Thou
:

didst create the earth at thy desire, while thou wast

alone

all

people, (all) cattle large and small,

them

that are on

the ground, that go

flying with their

upon two
;

(sic

!)

feet,

those that are on high

:

wings

the foreign lands

Syria and Kush, the

land of Egypt.

Thou

settest every

man

into his place, thou

i~\i.

makest
life-

their necessities;

each one has his inheritance

?|,

his

time

is

computed."

Then

follow the differentiation of the races in

color and speech, the maintenance of

Egypt by
'

a Nile

from

~a j_

,,

and that

of

the foreigners by
is
:

f"^ TCCCC.

^,

"^

Nile from

heaven," all of which to be observed is this

too long for quotation.

Syria on the north,

The particular point Kush on the south, and

of the

Egypt
is

in the midst, are exactly the

domain

Pharaoh, and

it

extends the government of the god. This in brief is the kernel of an article I had contemplated but of course the bulk of the evidence is omitted, together with the discusover this that the
;

hymn now

sion of the particular measures taken by

Amenhotep

IV., like the

introduction of Aton, the change of capital, and the extermination of other gods; lest the excursus should become too long. I desired

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE

to take

PRIEST.

475

up Amenhotep IV. here only with regard

to the extent of

domain. This side of the question, however, compels me to present one further remark. While believing that Amenhotep IV. 's theology is mainly due to the influence of the political conditions around him there is some evidence that contemplation of the natural world was also an influence, though a minor one, in leading him to so extend the domain of his god. Thus he says to his god
his god's
;
:

T^..^^^^;
"Thy
far

rays are in the midst of the sea;" showing that he had

not failed to note the obvious universal sway of the sun.

But

as

back as the old kingdom they had viewed the sun from Punt to the slopes of Lebanon, yet no Egyptian extended his god's government thither, till the time when the Pharaoh's government was so
Returning now
to

extended.

our inscription,

it

seems

to

me

that

its

conearly

tent justifies

three important conclusions: First, that

the

Egyptian did much more and much better thinking on abstract subjects than we have hitherto believed, having formed a philosophical conception of the world of men and things, of which no people need be ashamed. Second, it is obvious that the above conception of the world forms quite a sufficient basis for suggesting the later notions of vovs and Aoyos, hitherto supposed to have been introduced into Egypt from abroad at a much later date. Thus the Greek tradition of the origin of their philosophy in Egypt undoubtedly contains more of truth than has in recent years been
conceded.
Third, the habit, later so prevalent

among

the Greeks,

and relations of the Egyptian gods, thus importing a profound significance which they originally never possessed, had already begun in Egypt, centuries before the earliest of the Greek philosophers was born and it is not impossible that the Greek practice of so interpreting their own gods received its first impulse from Egypt.
of interpreting philosophically the functions
;

TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT.

\_The following translation contains all that
certainty.
is to

be

made out with

for

A few
left

obscure phrases are omitted, as well as the fragments

around the

edge of the

worn

circle,

which are
is

too disconnected

IFrom my own copy

of the original (copy in de Hyinnis, p. 39,

only from Bouriant).

476
rendering.
{p.
2,24).,

THE OPEN COURT.

The first two
lines contain the subscription as

given above

and

the text itself begins with line j'\.

(3) This Ptah is he, who is proclaimed under this great name. The Southland and the Northland are this Uniter, who appears as King of Lower Egypt. (6) He that begat [(5) left blank]. him is Atum, who formed the Nine Gods, (7) to whom the gods offered when he had judged Horus and Set. (8) He defended their litigation, in that he set up Set as King of Upper Egypt in the

(4)

Southland, from the place where he was born, Sesu (?); whereas Keb, he set Horus as King of Lower Egypt in the Northland, from

was drowned (9) at the division of the Horus and Set who stood on the ground (?); they joined the Two Lands at Enu (?) it is the boundary of the
the place where his father
;

Two

Lands.

It

is

Two

Lands.
(loa)

Keb Keb Keb

(to) Set,

speech:

"Hasten from the

:

place, wherein

thou wast born."

(i la)

(to)

Horus, speech

"Hasten from
:

the place wherein

thy father was drowned."

(12a)
(to)

Horus and
(to) the

Set, speech
:

(i3a-i7a)

Keb

gods

"

"I will judge you." have assigned the inheritance

the heart of Keb,

to that heir, to the

son of the first-born son."

!

(lob) (To) Set the Southland

that the portion of
Set.

It is evil to

Horus should be
!

(only) equal to the portion of

(lib) (to) Horus the Northland

It is

Keb, who gives his

in-

heritance to Horus, he being the son (12b) of his first-born son.

(13c) Horus stands on the earth, he is the uniter of this land, proclaimed under the great name, "Totenen south of his wall," lord of eternity. (14c) The double crown flourishes on his head; he is Horus, appearing as King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Uniter
of the

Two Lands
are united.

at the stronghold, at the

place where the

Two

Lands
at

(15c)

Now when

the front of the house of

and the column were Ptah, Horus and Set were united,
the
(?)

joined, they

became

brothers, they no longer strove together.

...

(i6c)

...united in the House of Ptah, in the place.

Southland and the Northland join

tral

(?);

it is

this

wherein the (Broken land.

references to the Osiris-myth follow, and then

comes the great cen-

lacuna.)

(48) Ptah

is

(49a) Ptah

the Being of the gods upon the Great Throne

(??)
is.

:ci\io^Qa^rj^'
,KN,C

o *o
^=4^l-^A^l^^>*i^il'^>.

jn^^u<^=^^U}:
^i.im;^Oa<-l^'^^^li^'^'^'^l^^''.POao^|fe^y-^^Trj:^
'^^^

i^JM^H^aiMli^IKl^^i^^^lMl^
^r
D

Ho}^,.|Hor^.r->^joo^E

K^or^g-^]\A\rO^^^^

l\^^'
SJVP'^>'v.|

VR^'^K}
joHRqis::!iio^n^^iir-!|g"W
,

pj<riM .-D
=

^l|c^^T3^lhE^:^^'<^fD'g^^:^\o ^^^^.'b

Kr^

KZii^
-K/^rij'^
^^s^s^\o^r\;j;
',./-,{
^

i^sj>^4'~^'^ii^r^B^jo-'^

''^

i^MSM^a^

^H^ \K
'WM'h
nc
io^.^
a^ijiTII

11^

:sgji
-\':^\

.r.

_i

rqrono
hfeb(|H-^E^^^\<^

i
.

'

^c^^^a^ii^oi'^(i^;^?f^^^'i%^()r43gi|ot't>i-^2:^\g.

'

gS^lJCIiilJI^glH^Uglq0^\'^g)>^r:i:^iOl^48I^D^^^Pn;.l^&ia|iO(l^(]!H^a;i^(!a^LT\^:8^^^HiK>HnUgili4^UM-o1xU,.
-^|oJ-^H

,..,

g-^(]E]^^<SKl^^lM^^'-^^^J)^'^^q^llS$;>^i^f L'

\!iiti-^HN-roaia^g!g]^^i^Loi8:;^iH!^g;g'^i^inu\niis-ivJ:

CO

478
(49b)
(50a)

THE OPEN COURT.

fashioner of the gods.

Ptah-Nun

is

the father of Atum.

(50b)
(51a) Ptah-Nekhabet
is

fashioner of the gods.

the mother

who bore Atum.

(51b)
(52a) Ptah the Great (52b)
(53)
is

the heart and the tongue of the gods.

at the

nose of

Re every

day.

became heart, and he that became tongue are an emanation of Atum. .their Ka's being this heart and this tongue. (54) Horus came into existence through him, Thoth came into
that
. .

He

whom proceeded the and the tongue. He is the one who makes to [lost causative verb] that which comes forth from every body (thought), and from every mouth (speech), of all gods, of all people, of all cattle, of all reptiles, which live, thinking and commanding [lit., "commanding the word of everything.. .."] everything that he wills. (55) His Ennead is before him, being the teeth and the lips, the phallus and the hands of Atum. .(For) the Ennead of Atum came into existence from his phallus and his fingers; the Ennead instead being the teeth and the lips in this mouth, which proclaims the name of everything; and from which Shu and Tefnut came
existence through him, through Ptah, from

power

of the heart

forth.

(56)

The gods fashioned

It

the sight of the eyes, the hearing of

the ears, and the smelling of the nose, that they might furnish the
desire of the heart.

(the heart)
It is
is

is

the one that bringeth forth

gods, at the time

every successful issue.

of the heart;
it

the tongue which repeats the thought

(the heart)

the fashioner of

all

when every

divine word even

came

into existence

by the thought

It (the heart) is (57) of the heart, and command of the tongue. the maker of Ka's. .the maker of every food-offering and every
.

oblation, by this word, the

maker

of that
life

which
is

is

hated

it is

the giver of

to

which is loved and that him who bears peace (the

guilt.
It

innocent), the giver of death to

him who bears

(the heart)

handiwork, and of every handicraft, the doing of the hands, the going of the feet; the movement of every member is according to its command (viz.,) the expression (lit. "word") of the heart's thought, that cometh forth from the tongue and doeth the totality of everything Ptah-Totenen, he being the fashioner of the gods; everything has come forth from him, whether offering or food or (59) divine oblation, or any good thing. He is Thoth, the Wise; greater is his strength than (that of)
the
of all
.

maker

THE PHILOSOPHY OF A MEMPHITE PRIEST.

the gods.

479

made all things, every made the towns, equipped the nomes, placed the gods in their adyta, (6o) made their offerings flourish, equipped their adyta, made likenesses of their bodies to
united with Ptah after he had
the gods, divine word;

He

when he formed

the satisfaction of their hearts; then the gods entered into their
bodies, of every wood, of every costly stone, of every metal (?) and everything that grows upon his. .(?) (6i) from which they come.
It
is

he

to

whom

all

the gods sacrifice, their Ka's being united,

The divine storeof the Two Lands. house of Totenen is the Great Seat attached to the heart of the .wherein gods who are in the house of Ptah, lord of life, lord. the life of the Two Lands is made. .Osiris, he was drowned in his water; Isis and Neph(62)1. thys saw; when they beheld him, they were of service to him. Horus gave command to Isis and Nephthys in Dedu, that they should save Osiris, and that they should prevent that he drown. (63) They went around.. (?), they brought him to the land, he
associated with the

Lord

entered his secret structure

footsteps of

in .... of

the lords of eternity, at the

him who

rises in the horizon

in the great seat.

(64)

He

associates with the court, he

upon the highways of Re becomes

a brother to the gods.

land, in

Totenen-Ptah, lord of years, he hath become Osiris in the on the north side of this land. His son Horus comes to him, appearing as King of Upper Egypt, appearing as King of Lower Egypt, in the presence of his father, Osiris and the gods, his ancestors, who are behind him.
.

so that

IThe n at the head of the line may be the negative as at the head of the duplicate we could render " Osiris was o/ drowned in his water." The statements in
:

line
11.

(19),

and

iia, that

he ivas drowned, would then probably indicate that he was merely nearly drowned.